public health

Unalaska’s clinic is expecting its first doses of the monkeypox vaccine this week. The White House declared monkeypox a public health emergency last month. The disease spread rapidly after it was first detected in the U.S. this spring. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are more than 21,000 cases in the nation as of Thursday. Only three have been reported in Alaska. People in Anchorage have had access to the monkeypox vaccine since early August. Rural communities like Unalaska are now beginning to receive doses as well.

One of the most sealed off communities in the country is under a hunker down order following a surge of COVID-19. Roughly half of all coronavirus cases recorded on St. Paul Island since the start of the pandemic have happened in the last two weeks.

Unalaska is once again handing out at-home coronavirus test kits, according to local health officials. The island received its first supply earlier this month, but ran out less than 24 hours after offering them to the public. Iliuliuk Family and Health Services received 400 kits from the state Tuesday, each with two tests per box, said Jennifer Heller, a certified nurse midwife with the clinic.

The City of St. Paul says 12 people tested positive for COVID-19 so far this week – its largest spike since the start of the pandemic.

Unalaska is in the midst of its largest surge of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. As of Wednesday, there were 214 active cases on the island, according to the city’s COVID-19 dashboard. One hundred and thirty five are considered community-acquired and 79 are industry-quarantined. Previously, the city had reported its highest number of community cases at 30, during the height of the delta surge this summer.

Unalaska’s clinic is out of its most efficient COVID-19 test kits, prompting health officials to recommend against retesting for island residents who test positive with at-home kits.

Unalaska has received its first shipment of at-home COVID-19 tests, according to local health officials. A shipment of 200 tests from the state of Alaska arrived this week and is now available to the community, said Megan Sarnecki, medical director at the Iliuliuk Family and Health Services clinic. The clinic was approved for 1,000 at-home tests – or 500 boxes of two tests each – from the state.

St. Paul is getting a new police chief this week, about a month after the island’s entire police department resigned over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The City of St. Paul says two essential workers tested positive for COVID-19 Monday, after flying into the community. The tests were performed at the local health center as part of the city’s travel testing requirements, according to a city statement.

The Unalaska City Council voted Tuesday to keep a community-wide mask mandate in place, as the state continues to lead the country in average new daily COVID-19 cases per capita.